Alligator Indicator By Bill Williams

The name of the indicator is a metaphor that uses the behavior of an alligator to explain the behavior of the indicator in different situations of the market. On the far right, you can see this pullback failed however there was not break above the yellow line before price began to close under the 3 lines. The Relative Vigor Index measures the strength of a trend by comparing a closing price to the daily range. Since 2013 I have helped thousands of traders to take their trading to the next level.

You can also think of it as a kind of “V” or an upside-down “V” . It’s important to know, however, that fractals belong to the group of so-called lagging indicators. In other words, they cannot be drawn until the reversal has been lasting at least a couple of days. Yes, that is a drawback, but given that these processes often last much longer, this may not pose such a significant problem if you can react quickly enough.

Situations when the downward movement changes sharply to the opposite and vice versa, I would ignore. The Alligator is asleep – the lines are intertwined and have no slope; when the Alligator lines are flat, no trend trading is conducted as the market is deemed to be ranging.

Alligator Fractal Trading Strategy

You will notice very quickly that this tool is very easy to handle. The illustration is very clear and there are absolutely no graphic elements that could confuse you. You can also try it via various trading platforms, and you can even download some variations of the tool for free! But keep reading, there’s one more oscillator we need to cover. It’s an early warning system of sorts because the market driving force always changes before the price and thus creates a window of opportunity you can use to your advantage. The behavior of those three lines of the Alligator Indicator will show you what you need to do next.

The Alligator is always implemented into any trading platform because of its simplicity. It’s the 5-period moving average, which is shifted 3 bars ahead. It is a 13-period moving average, which is moved 8 bars forward. After all the sides of the indicator were revealed, it is right the time for you to try either it will become your tool #1 for trading.

In a very simple sense, we can create a short position when the green line or lip cross teeth and jaw downwards. On first buy setup, a big bullish candle crossed alligator indicator and RSI was above 50 level. The Alligator falls asleep – the hunt is over; the predator is full. The lines of moving averages converge; the trend fades away; at this time, the profit is fixed for previously opened positions. A typical Alligator trade involves watching out for a cross of the 5SMA on the 8SMA , and the cross of both moving averages on the 13SMA . If the cross is occurs in an upward direction, this is seen as a bullish signal. If the cross occurred southwards, this is seen as a bearish condition.

And there are more tools that are equally efficient, such as the next one, although this one is slightly more complex. For a selling trade, the price chart must be below the Alligator.

Fractals are basically recurring patterns that can predict reversals among larger, more chaotic price movements. They are a nice way for traders to simplify large chunks of charts by breaking them down into simpler and more recognizable pieces. To put it very simply, everything revolves around the moment in which the trend changes and the way the market behaves after that. So, while it may be a tad challenging to get the hang of these three lines at first, using this indicator really isn’t too difficult for experienced traders.

What Is The Alligator Indicator & How To Trade With It

The Qstick Indicator is a technical analysis indicator developed by Tushar Chande to show buying and selling pressure over time. The indicator will flash false positives when the three lines are crisscrossing each other repeatedly, due to choppy market conditions. According to Williams, the alligator is “sleeping” at this time. This exposes a significant drawback of the indicator because many awakening signals within large rangeswill fail, triggering whipsaws. In this way you can make use of multi-time frame analysis in using the Alligator indicator.

The indicator consists of three moving average lines of different periods overlaid on a price chart to show when the market is in a range or trend. In the lower-left of the chart, the Alligator opens up, and an uptrend remains in place for some time. This is followed by a buy signal to the upside, which results in a brief uptrend.

The triple exponential moving average, also known as the TEMA, is a single line configuration on the chart. It smoothes the price of the equity three times using an EMA formula and then calculates the change in the EMAs based on the result for the previous day (n-1). Traders use the TEMA to enter and manage trades during strong trending markets. Conversely, the TEMA is not a great tool when the market is ranging, since it provides many fake signals. First price should cross 200 EMA from lower to upper, then it need to cross Alligator indicator. When candle close above alligator indicator, then this strategy gives buy signal.

Buy And Sell Volume Signals Indicator For Mt4

You can learn the trend direction following the fastest moving average. If it crosses other lines from top to bottom, it’s a signal to sell.

When it breaks above both moving averages, it’s a signal to sell. It’s the time when our alligator is sleeping, so its jaw, teeth, and lips are serried.

Trading Strategy Of Moving Average With Alligator Indicator

Depending on which way these move, cross, or act as support or resistance, can provide traders with valuable signals to take action from. The indicator’s creator, Bill Williams was an early pioneer in financial market psychology and developed some of the most widely used technical indicators today. The Williams Alligator technical analysis indicator can be used to discover the absence of a trend, trends that are beginning to form, and when markets have begun to trend.

While you are free to experiment with the settings, do not deviate too far away from the default settings and also the displacement or the shift settings. To use the indicator, simply head to the navigation section and from the indicators list, choose Bill Williams and select the Alligator indicator. For example, with the Bollinger bands, you know that when the bands contract, they will soon expand, and prices snap out from the narrow trend. With the Alligator, a similar concept is realized when the Alligator sleeps. There are just three main lines with the Alligator indicator. According to Williams, he believed that many trading systems fail because they rely on the predictability of the trends. He maintains that a good trading system is one which can predict the unknow.

Combining The Alligator Indicator With Other Trading Tools

Moving average is an effective indicator for determining trend. This forex trading strategy is based on moving average and alligator. Moving average will give trend direction and signal will come with the help of alligator. As this strategy is made with the trend direction, it can be more profitable. An alligator is a trend trading tool that uses three moving averages to indicate market conditions. The difference from 3 moving averages with different periods is that in this indicator, they are also shifted horizontally relative to each other.

• Given that Accelerator Oscillator helps you predict these changes in the force, you can see why it is very much popular among traders.
• It is common for traders to get caught up in market chop when using the Williams Alligator.
• Bill Williams also underscored the importance of not overcomplicating things.
• Fractals are basically recurring patterns that can predict reversals among larger, more chaotic price movements.
• You can learn the trend direction following the fastest moving average.
• If the Alligator indicator is signaling an uptrend, simply place a Stop Buy order one tick above the Up Fractal in the direction of the trend.

If the fractal appears in a zone of an intersection of lines of the Alligator – we ignore a signal. The Stop Loss installation on the fastest AlligatorsLips will cause the closing of a position at small kickbacks against a trend that doesn’t give stable profit. While the price moves higher than green line the trend is bull. The fastest AlligatorsLips reacts ahead to activity of the market – in the direction of a price impulse.

Depending on the period, the lines are called jaws, teeth, and lips. The sleeping period, when the lines are closed and entwined, will see many crossovers that look like trading signals. The key is in looking for the confirmatory divergence of the balance lines — and doing so quickly enough to avoid missing out on too much of the start of the trend. Here are some of the most common and effective Wiliams Alligator trading strategies. To properly use the Accelerator Oscillator, however, you need to focus on the colors – buy when the last bar is green and sell when it’s red. Do keep in mind that it matters how the force is influencing the price when you enter the market.

Trading mixes the “Jaw”, “Teeth”, and “Lips” while the Alligator sleeps during the initial part of the price action depicted. The trouble is the timing — because if the indicator lags at the start of the trend, and the fall was steep, we could all potentially miss the move. The second vertical dotted orange line marks the sated alligator, when the green line crosses back above. The lips, the teeth and the jaw become entwined once again, indicating another period of dormancy.

Check the chart example of below picture, on first sell setup, candle started to break alligator indicator. These two indicators are normally used as trend indication. So with the help of these indicators, good signal can be generated effectively. The methods of implementing the Alligator indicator into a trading strategy that are outlined within this article are just ideas. I would always ensure that I have good money management, trading discipline and a trading plan when using any forex strategy. The Alligator strategy on the Forex and stock market is a classic trend trading indicator used by many traders for many years. Bill Williams worked with this tool in the stock market, but the practice has proven that Alligator is applicable to other markets.